Gratitude by Melody Beattie

[Guest guest]

This is taken from the book " Gratitude: Affirming the Good Things

in Life " by Melody Beattie published by Hazelden.

" Sometimes in life things happen too fast. We barely solve one

problem when two new problems surface. We're feeling great in the

morning, but we're submerged in misery by nightfall.

Every day we face interruptions, delays, changes, and

challenges.

We face personality conflicts and disappointments. Often when we're

feeling overwhelmed, we can't see the lessons in these experiences.

One simple concept can get us through the MOST STRESSFUL of

times. It's called GRATITUDE. We learn to say THANK YOU for these

problems and feelings. THANK YOU for the way things are. I don't

like

this experience, but THANK YOU anyway.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. Gratitude makes things

right. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial

into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a

meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. It

turns problems into gifts, failures into successes, the unexpected

into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. It can turn

an existence into a real life, and disconnected situations into

important and beneficial lessons. Gratitude makes sense of our past,

brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

In the following pages you'll see how deprived thinking turns

good things into less or nothing, and how grateful thinking turns

all

things into more. You'll see how you can use affirmations to move

from feeling deprived to deserving. And, finally, we'll talk about

enhancing the good things in your life by tapping in to these basic

human skills: self-care, acceptance, setting goals, communication,

and making decisions.

Gratitude turns negative energy into positive energy. We can

start with who we are and what we have TODAY, apply gratitude, then

let it work its magic. There is no situation or circumstance so

small

or large that it is not susceptible to gratitude's power. This is a

book to remind you of that power. "

This was from the introduction to this " Gratitude " book. The

capital letter words were italicized in the book. (No, I was not

screaming!) Melody Beattie also wrote " Codependent No

More " , " Beyond

Codependency " , " The Language of Letting Go " , and " Codependent's

Guide

to the Twelve Steps. "

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AffirmationstoDe-Stress

A new positive thinking, positive affirmations support group, discussing ways to

cope with the stresses of daily life. Come aboard! PJ and Gang